NON-British children's classics - calling anyone who grew up (or is living) Elsewhere!

[Bink]

I've just read (and adored) my son's copy of The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars, who's American.

It came in a "classics" set that includes Ted Hughes and Marianne Storr, so obviously a proper serious level of classic. And it is definitely worthy of that company: utterly lovely book.

But because it was American, I'd known nothing of it - and having searched on here, just one poster has referred to it, ever. So I bet there are masses more books like that - ie, which are "classics" in their own country but just not well-known elsewhere.

So, if you grew up somewhere other than Britain - or had access to non-Brit-centric books as a child - what were your classics?

That's Berkley's Creek. Sorry!

Little Women
Fairy tales from Charles Perrault and Madame d'Aulnoy
The diary of Anna Frank
Anything by Gianni Rodari
The children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren
Mafalda comic strips
Peanuts
"A square of sky" by Janina David
The little Prince
Brunella Gasperini

I forgot Il giornalino di gianburrasca!

The Silver Crown by Robert O'Brian (I think).

Any of the Shel Silversten books - 'Where the Sidewalk Ends', 'A light in the Attic' are wonderful collections of poems for children that are absolute classics in the States. He also wrote 'the Giving Tree' which is a beautiful beautiful fable about a boy growing up and his relationship with a tree as he does so - sorry that sounds incredibly strange but it's a great story.

The Story of Ping
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Caps for Sale
Harold and the Purple Crayon

These are all books for the younger child - they were all huge in my day and in fact have only just ordered them so that my kids can enjoy them too,we live in Ireland and i've not come across any of them in the bookshops here.

Oh and for older children, pre-teen, books by Madeleine L'Engle are excellent too.

Jock of the bushveldt by percy fitzpatrick
I havent read it but I have heard that is very good

The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek used to really upset me. Poor bunyip! My copy of the Bullerby Children is falling to pieces so sad to hear it's difficult to find secondhand. I was so envious of them, really wanted their lives!

This is all marvellous, and inspiring!

I hadn't thought about French classics, for some reason (ds and dd came to near-blows this Christmas competing for dd's present of Le Petit Nicholas)

Tintin and Asterix.

For older children - Mischling Second Degree by Ilse Koehn - v. good book about growing up part-Jewish in Nazi Germany.

I remember that book, Mischling 2nd degree - the heroine was called Janne, I think. Verrry interesting.

MissM, but the Bunyip finds another bunyip in the end who tells him what he is and that he's beautiful. I used to loooove it!

That is very true, I'd forgotten that. I think I used to find him a bit scary-looking (but didn't the other animals too, isn't that why he was lonely? We're talking 30 years back now!)

Hmm, same here, but my recollection was that they just didn't know what he was and nor did he so he was lonely.
I may have to get a copy for DS so I can confirm.

I think he was just trying to find out what he was and no-one could tell him. He was lonely. Then at the end he meets another bunyip who asks "what am i" and of course the first bunyip can make friends and it's a happy ending.

oh god this is ridiculous I'm welling up and haven't even seen the damned book for years! Bloody pregnancy hormones make me way too soppy...

I loved the Aurora books as a child and have got a couple second had for DD but have yet to persude her about them!

Josephine
Hugo and Josephine
Hugo
all by Maria Gripe and translated from Swedish

Mardie's Adventures by Astrid Lindgren (one of the Bullerby books lets the cat out of the bag about Santa, by the way)

A Pony in the Luggage by Gunnel Linde and translated from Swedish

Half Magic
Magic by the Lake
Knight's Castle
The Time Garden
all by Edward Eager (American) and inspired by E Nesbit

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth and Me by EL Konigsberg (American)

Seven Little Australians is by Ethel Turner and is enjoyable until the tree falls on Judy. Oh my, what a blubfest.

Seven little Australians - wonderful
Snugglepot and cuddlepie by May Gibbs - sort of Australin equivilent of Beatrix Potter (not so cutsie though - the Big Bad Banksia Men were a bit scary!)
The Magic Pudding - hilarious

For older children

Climb a Lonely Hill - Lilith Norman (2 kids get lost in the desert/bush, and need to find water to survive - gripping, I loved it as a 10-12 year old)

Also The shape of three - by Lilith Norman

and

A fortunate Life - biography of AB Facey life in Australia in the ? 20s?

Now I want to find them all and read them again!

I also loved 'When Hitler stole pink rabbit' and 'the other way 'round' - I think Judith Kerr became British??? But the books are ceryainly non brit-centric.

Thank you - sorry, this thread fell off my Threads I'm On, so I missed recent contributions.

Watch this space, though.

Fennel, thank you for reminding me of Le petit Nicolas. I loved the illustrations too!

Oh I LOVED Hugo and Josephine! I didn't think anyone else in the world (or at least in England) had read it. And A Pony in the Luggage. Loved it loved it! Those Swedes know how to write a darn good children's book.

Paul Zindel is my hero (swoon), whoever reminded us of him. But very much for Teenage years. As is SE Hinton (The Outsiders,etc.)

Younger children:
Anything by EB White
Black Stallion books
Lad the Dog books
My Friend Flicka
A Wrinkle in Time (although I reread it, and found it a bit overtly religious).
PollyAnna (I have it upstairs, but DD yet to crack it open). She does like Nancy Drew, though.

I think my "Hugo and Josephine", and "A Pony in the Luggage" came from Chip Club, MissM.

Come to think of it, an awful lot of stuff from Chip Club wasn't British in origin.

I wish it was still around for DD.

I forgot to say L Frank Baum's "Oz" books. There are heaps more than "The Wizard of Oz", but apparently American librarians went through a phase of loving him about as much as Enid Blyton was by British librarians in the 70s and 80s.

Oh, and:

A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert deJong
Ride a Wild Pony by James Aldridge

I loved "A Wrinkle in Time," and wanted Charles Wallace for my little brother. Meg's liking for Maths (or Math) mystified me, however.

The Boxcar Children - another great series, my boys love it and luckily for me the second hand book shop has them in plentiful supply.

Has anyone mentioned Hairy Maclairy?